With the gradual emergence of technology organizations are getting accustomed in running their process of business by incorporating technological equipments. Enterprise resource planning, the abbreviated form of ERP is the glue that that connects different computer system together for fulfilling a larger purpose. ERP basically resembles human central nervous system for transcending the collective ability of an individual (Ptak & Schragenheim, 2016). Business organization incorporates entire data base of production, finance, distribution and human resources together. Especially, the supply chain procedure in a business organization leaves major significance based on which organizational image and reputation is highly dependent.
In last five years it is observed that Seafood Holding Ltd is facing innumerable challenges in maintaining balance between supply and demand. Seafood Holding Ltd is one of the most recognizable fish suppliers occupying a prestigious name in the market of UK (Bloomberg.com, 2018). They have already achieved international glory due to their superior product quality and fast services. In last five years it is observed that the number target customers have innumerably increased. In this kind of situation, the organization is unable to maintain proper database (Qrunfleh & Tarafdar, 2014). Therefore, the organization intends to implement ERP system to connect the entire supply chain data together so that business experts can keep a track on their services.
Problem has been identified that Seafood Holding Ltd is unable to maintain proper data about their inbound and outbound process due to the lack of technological implementation. Their entire operation system is dependent on backdated technology. Machines and software are not very much updated with the help of which business experts are unable to implement automated software (Fernie & Sparks, 2014). However, organization is thus unable to maintain coherent data on their entire supply chain process. In this kind of situation the business experts have decided to implement advanced technology by rendering ERP system. As a result, the entire organizational data of Seafood Holdings can be maintained in a coherent manner. As a result, business experts would not have to face challenges in evaluating the entire organizational performances (Marinagi, Trivellas & Sakas, 2014).
The primary aim of this very specific research is to critically evaluate the importance of implementing ERP in supply chain management based on the case study of angel Seafood Holdings. The primary objectives of this research are as follows:
The research questions of this particular study are as follows:
Wang et al. (2016) stated that ERP is the enterprise wide information system which is designed to coordinate all the resources together. ERP system supports in maintaining a single database from variety functions. In business organizations especially in the logistics sector the organization needs to amalgamate important data and information together so that managers do not have to face challenges in making data evaluation. This specific software design is very much expensive and valuable which enable the organization in maintaining a systematic coherence of information. Musa, Gunasekaran and Yusuf (2014) opined that with the implementation of ERP planning the organization can make inventory process, supply chain planning, supplier scheduling, claim processing, outbound maintenance, order entry and so on.
With the help of implementing ERP system within supply chain process the business experts do not have to implement other software for getting database. Chae, Olson and Sheu (2014) stated that data can be evaluated systematically based on which business managers can get detailed knowledge about the current business position in market. Based on their current market position the organization can maintain improvement plans and policies. On the other hand, ERP software can make the entire operation process faster with the help of which gap between supply and demand can be maintained.
Kilic, Zaim and Delen (2015) stated that improved efficiency with lower IT cost is the biggest advantages of ERP in supply chain management. ERP software enables the business experts in maintaining data and information together in a proper coherence. As a result, the business managers get benefits in evaluating their organizational database. They do have in-depth and clear information about organizational profit margin. At the same time, single IT system also reduces training cost of the employers. The human resource managers have to arrange training program for ERP system only. Kumar, Singh and Shankar (2015) opined that the business experts do not have to implement any additional software after implementing ERP.
One of the biggest disadvantages of ERP is that it is complicated IT system. Employees from good IT background can be flexible in operating ERP properly. Otherwise, the organization cannot implement ERP software. Huang and Handfield (2015) opined that if the business employees fail to operate this system the entire process of business would lose its rhythmic flow. This particular comprehensive system is easier to purchase. But the business experts have to invest large amount of money for updating this software time to time. Otherwise, ERP mechanism would not be able to maintain data coherence properly. As a result, the organizational database will lose its systematic flow.
Different eminent scholars have provided their own opinion regarding the impact of ERP planning on the overall success of business. It is however analyzed that ERP system has made the entire operation procedure systematic and faster. Mesjasz-Lech (2014) stated that the organizational managers do not have to use additional software for evaluating data regarding business performances. At the same time, this particular system is complicated to operate effectively. Rouyendegh, Baç and Erkan (2014) opined that the employees need to have proper technological skill and competency for running this software. As a result, the manufacturing, financial, supply chain, logistics data can be kept together in a distinct way so that business experts can easily evaluate.
This very specific study has focused to make in-depth critical analysis about enterprise resource planning and its importance. ERP basically resembles human central nervous system for transcending the collective ability of an individual. Business organization incorporates entire data base of production, finance, distribution and human resources together. Machines and software are not very much updated with the help of which business experts are unable to implement automated software (Wisner, Tan & Leong, 2014). The primary aim of this very specific research is to critically evaluate the importance of implementing ERP in supply chain management. The study has critically evaluated the importance of implementing ERP in supply chain management. The factors affecting in implementing supply chain management has also been discussed.
Still, the study is not devoid of some of its major limitations. The study has not focused to make in-depth overview about supply chain models and theories. The study could have focused to evaluate value chain analysis in relating to the context of ERP process as well. On the other hand, the author could have made an effective argumentative discussion regarding the advantages and disadvantages of ERP in supply chain management.
Research design is the systematic method of collecting appropriate data and information by using appropriate methodological tool. In this study, positivism research philosophy is used with the help of which an in-depth keen observation is made related to the research issue. Research approach evaluates necessary data and information based on different theoretical approaches (Kilic, Zaim & Delen, 2014). In this study deductive research approach is used based on which case study is conducted based on Seafood Holding Ltd. On the other hand, with the help of an effective descriptive research design identified research issue is explained based on collected data. There is no scope for data interpretation in descriptive form of research design.
Data collection is the process of gathering appropriate information from different resources be it primary or secondary (Mary Converse, 2012). In this study secondary form of data collection technique is used based on which data is gathered from different books, journals, websites, magazines, online sources and so on. In this study, thematic analysis is conducted based on which research issue is gathered based on several themes. By incorporating the opinion of different eminent scholars in thematic analysis data is collected and analyzed.
Sampling technique enables the researcher in gathering data and information from specific group of people among large number of population (Coleman, 2013). Sampling is of two major types including probability sampling and non-probability sampling. In this study non-probability sampling technique is used in order to involve those resources which are related to the identified research issue (Håkansson 2013).
While conducting the research paper, the researcher has to follow appropriate ethics, values and beliefs. In this study, data protection act and anti-discrimination act is strictly maintained. Anti-discrimination act enables the researcher in involving the people from various geographical and cultural backgrounds. In addition, data collection sources should have proper reliability ad validity.
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Table: Time-frame of the entire research plan
(Source: As created by the author 2018)
1. Technological advancement in effective supply chain management
Figure 1: Sectors and participants
(Source: )
The above table depicts the sectors and the participants. The company chosen in the assignment is Angel Seafood Holdings Ltd, which falls under the category of food and beverage.
Figure 2: Basics of supply chain management
(Source: Christopher, 2016)
The above figure represents the supply chain management in case of the companies like Angel Seafood Holdings LTD. As a matter of specification, it is a process, where the suppliers are the initiator is the suppliers. The manufacturers take the supplies of the seafoods for preparing lip smacking delicacies. As a sequential step, the distributors take the manufactured orders to the supermarkets and the stores. From the stores, the food items finally reach to the customers. Herein lays the role of the managers of Angel Seafood Holdings LTD in terms of restructuring the organizational structure in terms of enhancing the efficiency. One of the major duties of the managers is adopting effective technologies, which would bring automation into the product lines (Ross, 2016). One of an effective solution in this aspect is that of cloud computing software, which would help in storing the data related to the supply chain network.
Technology is one of the main tools in practicing an efficient and effective supply chain management. Within this, Software as a Service (SaaS), reflects the interaction between the third party providers for the brands and the customers. This can be related with that of the social media marketing, which indicates the initiatives of the brands towards luring the customers towards the brand image. SaaS is one of the main categories of cloud computing, which helps brands like Angel Seafood Holding LTD to achieve infrastructural development (Fan et al., 2015). The critics opined that global SaaS software would reach a revenue of $106B by 2016.
Figure 3: SaaS as per market size
(Source: Chen, Preston & Swink, 2015)
The above figure depicts the unprecedented rise in the use of SaaS software from 2012-2018. As a matter of specification, value of SaaS per market size is 4387.8 m$ in 2018. The major drive behind this is the radical innovation in the field of technological adoption. Market research by the personnel of Angel Seafood Holdings LTD has revolutionized the business operations. Provision of technological trainings to the employees has added automation in the manufacturing processes of seafood items. Along with this, presence of efficient and effective research and development team is the evidence behind satisfaction of the customers regarding the delivery of clean and hygienic fish processing. Along with this, mention can be made of the quality fish harvesting and storage techniques, which is controlled through computerized methods (Lin, 2014). Hiring foreign researchers and scientists has enabled Angel Seafood Holdings LTD to make plans regarding prevention of food colourings in the preparation of the seafood items.
Figure 4: Failures of ERP implementation
(Source: Fredendall & Hill, 2016)
The above figure reflects the failures of ERP in terms of their synchronization with the supply chain management. There are three parameters, which occupies an important position in the figure. These are supply chain agility, the limits of ERP and visibility in performance. In case of supply chain agility, the lack of awareness about fulfilling the goals is reflected. This is in spite of the consciousness about the agilities related to supply chain management. 96% of the brands feel that agility is important in terms of enhancing the supply chain network. Along with this, the figure also reveals the opinion of the brands, who think that their supply chain is agile. Angel Seafood Holdings LTD can be placed in the category of the brands, which revealed that their supply chain management is agile (Oettmeier & Hofmann, 2016). This is in terms of the skilled and efficient research and development team, who work towards adopting innovation into the tools and equipments for storing, harvesting and processing the seafood items.
Figure 5: Growth rate of electrical industry
(Source: Gunasekaran et al., 2017)
The above figure represents the growth of the electrical industry in the form of a comparative study between January to November 2016 and 2017. Within this, the growth of laboratory and technical services has been recorded as 3.5%. This can be an advantage for Angel Seafood Holdings LTD in terms of indulging in strategic alliances like joint ventures and cross shareholdings. Indulging in meetings with the trade union members would be assistance for the company in terms of dealing with the financial instabilities like inflation, high exchange rates and high prices of the raw materials. Although the growth rate of quality assurance and control is null, however, its influence is needed within the business practices. This is in terms of testing the standards and quality of the manufactured seafoods before supplying it to the clients and the customers (Fredendall & Hill, 2016). Frequent inspections is needed by the personnel of Quality Assurance and Control for upgrading the quality of the seafood items.
The growth rate of modelling and simulation is recorded as 1.1%. Their role in the business activities of Angel Seafood Holdings LTD would be vital in terms of examining the models, which would be appropriate for harvesting, storing and processing of the seafood items. Experiments are needed in this direction in terms of testing the effectiveness, appropriateness and feasibility of the models on the supply chain networks. Therefore, time management is crucial in terms of maintaining the balance between the business activities. Regular meetings with the board panel would legalize the procedure of seeking efficient and effective technologies (Lin, 2014). Maintaining consistency in the execution of meetings is effective in terms of improving the public relations of Angel Seafood Holdings LTD. Sending the updates of the meetings on emails and official website would enhance the awareness of the personnel regarding the supply chain management. Apart from this, using software like SaaS upgrades the security and privacy of the data related to the storage, harvesting and processing of the seafood items. Moreover, the software is assistance in terms of evaluating the feasibility of the adopted processes.
Conclusion:
After evaluating the entire study it can be concluded that by using ERP business organization incorporates entire data base of production, finance, distribution and human resources together. In last few years it is observed that the number target customers have innumerably increased. In this kind of situation, the organization is unable to maintain proper database. Machines and software are not very much updated with the help of which business experts are unable to implement automated software. The study aims to critically evaluate the importance of implementing ERP in supply chain management on Seafood Holdings. ERP system supports in maintaining a single database from variety functions. In business organizations especially in the logistics sector the organization needs to amalgamate important data and information together so that managers do not have to face challenges in making data evaluation.
Based on their current market position the organization can maintain improvement plans and policies. On the other hand, ERP software can make the entire operation process faster with the help of which gap between supply and demand can be maintained. In this study research approach evaluates necessary data and information based on different theoretical approaches. By incorporating the opinion of different eminent scholars in thematic analysis data is collected and analyzed. In this study, data protection act and anti-discrimination act is strictly maintained.
Based on the entire evaluation of identified research issue it can be recommended that the business experts of Seafood Holding Ltd should provide effective training and development session to the employees. Proper training and development session would help the employees in enhancing their technological competency. Effective technological competency can enable the employee in operating ERP system effectively. On the other hand, the organization is recommended to enhance their budget for supply chain process so that business experts can implement technological equipments within services.
The identified research topic could have been précised so that data and information can be collected more specific ways. On the other hand, the researcher could have focused to follow post-positivism research philosophy instead of following positivism research. On the other hand, only secondary data analysis is not effective enough in collecting sufficient information. The researcher could have used primary data collection method as well.
References:
Bloomberg.com. (2018). Food and staples retailing. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapid=29517660.
Chae, B., Olson, D., & Sheu, C. (2014). The impact of supply chain analytics on operational performance: a resource-based view. International Journal of Production Research, 52(16), 4695-4710.
Chen, D. Q., Preston, D. S., & Swink, M. (2015). How the use of big data analytics affects value creation in supply chain management. Journal of Management Information Systems, 32(4), 4-39.
Christopher, M., 2016. Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson UK.
Coleman, R. (Ed.)., (2013). Deleuze & research methodologies. Edinburgh University Press.
Fan, T., Tao, F., Deng, S., & Li, S. (2015). Impact of RFID technology on supply chain decisions with inventory inaccuracies. International Journal of Production Economics, 159, 117-125.
Fernie, J., & Sparks, L. (2014). Logistics and retail management: emerging issues and new challenges in the retail supply chain. Kogan page publishers.
Fredendall, L. D., & Hill, E. (2016). Basics of supply chain management. CRC Press.
Gunasekaran, A., Papadopoulos, T., Dubey, R., Wamba, S. F., Childe, S. J., Hazen, B., & Akter, S. (2017). Big data and predictive analytics for supply chain and organizational performance. Journal of Business Research, 70, 308-317.
Håkansson, A., 2013. Portal of research methods and methodologies for research projects and
Huang, Y. Y., & Handfield, R. B. (2015). Measuring the benefits of ERP on supply management maturity model: a “big data” method. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 35(1), 2-25.
Kilic, H. S., Zaim, S., & Delen, D. (2014). Development of a hybrid methodology for ERP system selection: The case of Turkish Airlines. Decision Support Systems, 66, 82-92.
Kilic, H. S., Zaim, S., & Delen, D. (2015). Selecting “The Best” ERP system for SMEs using a combination of ANP and PROMETHEE methods. Expert Systems with Applications, 42(5), 2343-2352.
Kumar, R., Singh, R. K., & Shankar, R. (2015). Critical success factors for implementation of supply chain management in Indian small and medium enterprises and their impact on performance. IIMB Management review, 27(2), 92-104.
Lin, H. F. (2014). Understanding the determinants of electronic supply chain management system adoption: Using the technology–organization–environment framework. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 86, 80-92.
Marinagi, C., Trivellas, P., & Sakas, D. P. (2014). The impact of information technology on the development of supply chain competitive advantage. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 147, 586-591.
Mary Converse RN, M. N. 2012. Philosophy of phenomenology: How understanding aids research. Nurse Researcher (through 2013), 20(1), 28.
Mesjasz-Lech, A. (2014). The use of IT systems supporting the realization of business processes in enterprises and supply chains in Poland. Polish Journal of Management Studies, 10.
Musa, A., Gunasekaran, A., & Yusuf, Y. (2014). Supply chain product visibility: Methods, systems and impacts. Expert Systems with Applications, 41(1), 176-194.
Oettmeier, K., & Hofmann, E. (2016). Impact of additive manufacturing technology adoption on supply chain management processes and components. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, 27(7), 944-968.
Ptak, C. A., & Schragenheim, E. (2016). ERP: tools, techniques, and applications for integrating the supply chain. Crc Press.
Qrunfleh, S., & Tarafdar, M. (2014). Supply chain information systems strategy: Impacts on supply chain performance and firm performance. International Journal of Production Economics, 147, 340-350.
Ross, D. F. (2016). Introduction to e-supply chain management: engaging technology to build market-winning business partnerships. CRC Press.
Rouyendegh, B. D., Baç, U., & Erkan, T. E. (2014). Sector selection for ERP implementation to achieve most impact on supply chain performance by using AHP-TOPSIS hybrid method. Tehnicki Vjesnik-Technical Gazette, 21(5), 933-937.
Wang, G., Gunasekaran, A., Ngai, E. W., & Papadopoulos, T. (2016). Big data analytics in logistics and supply chain management: Certain investigations for research and applications. International Journal of Production Economics, 176, 98-110.
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